Taking the plunge
A record 96 participants plunged into the icy water of Ness Lake during the 18th annual Ness Lake Bible Camp Polar Bear Dip on Tuesday. The event raised $10,981 for the Camper Sponsorship Fund, which provides financial support to help needy children to attend the camp. For more photos, see page 5.
YEAR IN REVIEW
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
The city’s arts, entertainment and culture scenes were alive and bustling this past year. In many ways, new records and benchmarks were set.
Some were ephemeral moments like Cirque du Soleil performing their innovative acrobatic skating show Crystal, comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and Russell Peters coming to town and music spectacles from country star Brett Kissel to pop/hiphop sisters Dani & Lizzy to The Vancouver Orpheus Male Choir to opera star Kathleen Morrison to southern rocker John Mellencamp to metal headliners Battlecross to Hedley on the cusp of the sexual assault allegations against their lead singer. Other moments included spoken word superstar Shane Koyczan to standup filmmaker Kevin Smith broadcasting the podcast Fatman Beyond with co-host Marc Bernardin live from Northern FanCon.
We lived in interesting 2018 times. These are some of the highlights that made the headlines in this year of floods and droughts, fire and snow, and a never-ending stream of local and imported infotainment.
Topping the list was the enormously successful year had by The Exploration Place Museum and Science Centre.
In 2018, they became the headquarters for the Symbiosis initiative that brought (and continues to bring) together a plethora of stakeholders in the STEAM universe – the various fields of study in the professions of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math.
The Canadian Association of Science Centres (CASC) held its national convention in Prince George, centred at The Exploration Place. Staff of the museum, plus a number of other local people and places, were spotlighted for the science presentation industry of Canada. The conference theme was Lhulh’Uts’Ut’En (pronounced “Lull uts soo tan”), a Dakelh phrase meaning “Working Together.” Staff there held a usually-sold-out Adult Speaker Series, a monthly town hall meeting for science, starring some of the area’s
most interesting minds talking about their most prized personal projects.
All this slingshotting came out of the last month of 2017 when The Exploration Place won a Governor General’s History Award For Excellence In Community Programming for the opening of the museum’s permanent gallery named Hodul’eh-a: A Place of Learning. This in-house display tells the story and archives the physical artifacts of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation and increasingly contextualizes the region’s ages-old Aboriginal foundations.
The Prince George Symphony Orchestra also made headlines for a number of reasons. For one, it was the first year under the artistic directorship and conductor’s baton of resident maestro Michael Hall, who unfurled a classy program of events that included teen guitar phenom Xu Kun “Alan” Liu; prodigal P.G. music sons Karl and Joel Stobbe; a Canadian folk mashup by Ken Lavigne, Tiller’s Folly and Diyet working together; and many more.
The PGSO also made headlines for their financial situation. In one of the rarest of instances, in relation to Canadian not-forprofit orchestra organizations, the fiscal discussion was about how spry and vigorous the society’s ledger was. The PGSO board went before city council not to ask for a loan or a loan extension, as had been done multiple times in the past, but instead to give them a cheque. The organization paid in full, several years ahead of schedule, the final $17,733.33 of the $50,000 extended them by city hall in 2005.
“In two years the Prince George Symphony Orchestra has gone from an accumulated deficit of $131,000 to being in the black,” said board president Diane Rogers.
Meanwhile, Theatre Northwest broke new ground in its 25th anniversary year. One of the professional theatre company’s most notable triumphs was the all original play Hedda Noir.
This world premiere performance was a modern adaptation of the classic Henrik Ibsen script Hedda Gabler. Hedda Noir was penned by TNW’s artistic director Jack Grinhaus who wrote the play for his wife, Lauren Brotman, who won critical raves for her starring portrayal of the troubled antagonist character. — see ‘NIAC WILL BE, page 3
Christine HINZMANN Citizen staff chinzmann@pgcitizen.ca
As Mayor Lyn Hall looks back on 2018, he can’t help but look ahead to 2019, noting how the decisions made last year will shape the year to come.
“Taking a quick look back at 2018, I think the one thing that stands out beyond being able to see the physical things around the city is looking at the building permits up to the end of November, which are valued at about $182 million,” Hall said. “This is an all-time record for the city and a large piece of the development over the last four years, which will likely exceed $600 million and is really driven by the private sector and that’s pretty important for us because it shows a lot of confidence in the economy here.”
Hall said even though the city didn’t have anything to do with the new School District 57 project, the construction of the new Kelly Road Secondary School, it is still really big for the city.
The mayor’s office at city hall overlooks the construction site for the new condominium complex, giving Hall a bird’s-eye view of a project he hopes transform downtown. “Changing the face of downtown – we haven’t seen any development like this for decades,” Hall said. “The Park House condo development is something that I really think will be the driving force behind more commercial and retail development downtown. We need people to live downtown. There’s lots happening on the other side of Victoria Street but when you get on the downtown side, we needed residential living downtown to create a community and that’s what Park House development will do.” Hall talked about the results of the Oct. 28, 2017 referendum that saw the community voting in favour of replacing Fire Hall No. 1 and the Four Seasons Pool.
During the referendum 82 per cent of voters approved borrowing $15 million for the fire hall replacement and 62 per cent of voters approved borrowing $35 million to build a new pool.
The fire hall will be built on the southwest corner of Massey Drive and Carney Street next to the YMCA, while the new pool will be built at 600 Quebec St., which is the current location of the Days Inn.
Construction of the fire hall is scheduled to begin early this year while the pool is scheduled for the fall of this year or early in 2020.
The asset review which was ongoing in 2018 saw staff assessing city facilities to help prioritize repairing or replacing aging infrastructure.
“Staff did a tremendous job looking at those assessments and determining what we need to do,” said Hall, who also mentioned the park review that took place in 2017 which began being implemented in 2018, which saw the more than $4 million in upgrades done to Masich Place.
“So now we’re going to see the work being done on many of our parks and trails,” he said.
There was a tremendous amount of work done on below-ground infrastructure in 2018 as well.
“I think the sinkhole at Carney and Winnipeg, despite the fact that it was costly and certainly something you don’t want, I think that really shed light on the fact that our below-ground infrastructure in many locations is in pretty rough shape.”
Highlights Hall talked about include the announcement of the World Para Nordic Skiing Championships being held in Prince
George Feb. 15 to 24 and hosted by the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club, which will see 140 athletes and 200 coaches from 20 nations gather together to compete in crosscountry skiing and biathlon events.
Looking to the 2019 budget, Hall said one of the priorities is always road improvement.
“Road and sidewalk rehabilitation work has been going on for a few years,” Hall said. “Our upcoming budget for 2019 will determine what that looks like, along with a number of other things that we’re doing on the capital side around roads, paving and those kinds of things.”
One of the jobs newly created at the City of Prince George is an emergency services coordinator because the new normal is the community receives evacuees during the inevitable wildfire season and when the time comes there has to be someone to put a plan in place if there is an order to evacuate the city.
Reconciliation is also on the city’s agenda and continues to be an important item on the list.
“We continue to work with the Lheidli T’enneh and others around reconciliation,” Hall said. “And that’s not just at the political level but at the staff level.”
The pavilion built at the Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park was a great asset to the city, Hall added.
“It’s part of the history of the city,” he said. As for seniors in the City of Prince George, there’s been an age-inclusive strategy action plan put in place.
“We want seniors to stay and I’ve said to seniors many times if they go away in the winter that’s great but I want them to come home in the spring,” Hall said. “So under this action plan it gives us an idea of what we need to do to provide because seniors want to sell their large homes and move into something smaller, so this really gives us an idea of what the needs are in the community.”
Hall said there’s something else he’s very proud about.
“We’re being looked at as a regional centre and it’s important for us to carry out that role as the largest city in central and northern B.C.,” Hall said. “I think as a result of that we certainly hold a responsibility for being a supporter in the region but also if communities need our assistance in some way, we’re there to help.”
Speculating on the city’s future can’t be fully addressed without looking to the legalization of marijuana use and the sale of that budding commodity.
In the last few months of 2018, Prince George council voted in favour of reducing the cost of a business licence for pot sellers from $5,000 to $1,000. The bylaw, which sets out the specifications of the streamlined application process, is in place and the city is waiting for applications to come through development services.
“We do know there has been a couple that have been approved by the province and so now they’ll come through our process in development services and end up before council for approval,” the mayor explained.
“The thing that we’re also waiting on is the revenue distribution share from the province. As we know the feds and the province have had their piece and have come to a resolution. There is a province or two that say they’re not going to do any revenue sharing with municipalities but I would hope that’s not the case here in B.C. I still maintain that we want and need a share of that revenue that comes into the province because we’re going to have added costs.”
— from page 1
TNW then proceeded to add box office success to their critical acclaim by breaking company records for ticket sales for a single play. The show Million Dollar Quartet was a smash hit.
The always busy Community Arts Council was up to its usual tricks like hosting Studio Fair, the Spring Arts Bazaar and Chili Cook-Off, the 6x6 Best Damn Little Art Auction, and other annual goings on, but they also added some significant twists in 2018. Foremost among them was the establishment of the Northern Indigenous Artists’ Collective (NIAC). This new arts roundtable was launched within the governance structure and developmental care of the Community Arts Council but NIAC is not a user group or guild, as is the typical case with CAC affiliates. This new entity is its own freestanding Indigenous arts council.
“As far as we can find, NIAC will be the first Aboriginal arts council in B.C.,” said CAC executive director Sean Farrell.
NIAC was launched by the committee of Shirley Babcock, Darin Corbiere, Carla Joseph, Lynette La Fontaine, Dianne Levesque, Len Paquette, Jennifer Pighin, Ivan Paquette and Kim Stewart earlier in the process.
The Community Arts Council, the Prince George Symphony Orchestra, and Theatre Northwest also broke new ground with a first-time collaboration in 2018. They wanted to cross any perceived borders between themselves and work as one on a fundraiser to help them collectively. That earned the name support of mayor Lyn Hall who signed on for the inaugural Mayor’s Black & White Ball For The Arts, which was so successful it is now expected to be an annual event.
Five multi-day events took big strides forward this year, leading the pack for locally organized events. The BC Northern Exhibition went ahead after a modified 2017 that had to be curtailed due to the Cariboo wildfires. This year, the show went on without a hitch.
Northern FanCon brought such celebrity names as Sean Astin, Kevin Smith, Nichelle Nichols, Michael Biehn, Tricia Helfer and many others. It was a cosplay playground, it was a film industry classroom, it was a retail bonanza and it was stadium-sized fun. Cariboo Rocks The North was a first-time event that will have many happy returns if 2018 was any indication. Pacific Western Brewing moved their parking lot barbecue to Exhibition Park in front of CN Centre, made it a three-day blast, and brought to town the likes of Randy Bachman, Kim Mitchell, Honeymoon Suite, Platinum Blonde, Toronto, Headpins, 54-40, Nick Gilder & Sweeny Todd, Little River Band, Prism and Harlequin.
While the classic rockers were braving the forest fire smoke at Cariboo Rocks The North, the metalheads were doing the same thing down the road at Brookside Resort where Battlecross headlined the two-day Metallion Festival which always showcases a mix of local and import talent pounding out the loudest of the popular music genres and adding another layer of ka-ching to the local economy.
The winter also got some heat when the nationally celebrated Coldsnap Music Festival brought some of Canada’s top folk-music talent to Prince George. This event runs more than a week at various locations around the city in the heart of winter, with local musicians also getting ample spotlight and the import talent conducting workshops as well as concerts.
Also in 2018:
• The most prolific writer of local history books, Jack Boudreau, passed away. Born in 1933 and raised in Penny and Prince George he wrote 10 books, all of them on the people, places and professions of this region and all of them among the bestsellers published by Caitlin Press.
• Jennifer (Rioux) Jenkins captured the hearts of the nation as one of the competitors on MasterChef Canada seen weekly on CTV. Her punky purple hair fashion and her spunky kitchen skills made her a popular local draw to a nationwide TV show.
• Kim Purcell’s novel This Is Not A Love Letter was published by Hyperion Books. It was a fictional story aimed at adolescent audiences based on some real life events from her upbringing in Prince George, most notably the disappearance of local teen Al Rivas in 1989 that has not been solved. The book has done so well that it made National Public Radio’s list of best reads of the year.
• The Central B.C. Railway and Forestry Museum chose a familiar name to take over the helm of the sprawling industrial attraction. Katherine Carlson has been the curator there for years and her time in the museum’s employ dates back 10 years, covering
almost every department in the organization. Now Carlson has been named the executive director.
• Paint sparks flew when Michael Kast first met Lynette La Fontaine. The two painters were the first tandem selection ever made by the Community Arts Council to be artists-in-residence. The CAC felt they could host two artists at the same time and so gave these two a try, despite them never having known each other before, much less worked on art together. The CAC gave them no mandate to collaborate, but offered the suggestion. They each did large bodies of individual and co-produced art in their year at the free CAC studio space.
• Isabelle Houghton handed over the Limelight Quest crown to new champion Grace Hoksbergen. Hoksbergen won the annual singing competition (runner up Mesa Passey, third place finisher Arilynne Barks, fourth place Katie Hogan) at the finals held on the BC Northern Exhibition entertainment stage. She will now get chances to perform on several regional stages as part of the prize. The first one is the soon upcoming Coldsnap Music Festival.
• Hall Of Fame arm wrestler Vern Martel was a centrepiece real-life character of the documentary series Arm Nation that got aired on APTN. The weekly halfhour show follows a number of arm wrestling stars from Canada, with special attention given to athletes like Prince George’s Martel who come from Aboriginal backgrounds.
• Carla Joseph, the winner of Art Battle 2016, is now the local event’s first repeat champion. She topped the 12 competitors to win her second title in three years. Painters competing at Art Battle are given a canvas, an assortment of colours, a 20-minute time limit, and a live audience at Hubspace. Three rounds of four painters each are held. The audience votes to decide the finalists for another pressurized 20-minute paintoff. Whomever earns the most votes in the finals goes on to the provincials in Vancouver in summer.
• For the first time in city history, a television series was filmed entirely on local locations. After years of development, filmmakers Jon Chuby and Jeremy Abbott finally earned an airing for their comedy spoof Geoff and The Ninja. The production team gave Prince George viewers a big-screen first look by playing some of their series at the P. G. Playhouse in advance of the debut on Telus Optik TV. For those who missed any of the show, it is also available on their YouTube channel.
• The reason for renaming Fort Georege Park to Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park was clearly demonstrated when the renovation of the park’s picnic pavilion revealed copious human remains from bygone eras. Twelve full bodies plus the bone of a 13th person were uncovered in the excavation phase. Construction was halted pending careful examination of the earth in that area.
After consulting with Lheidli T’enneh First Nations elders, the bodies were interred with honours at the Lheidli T’enneh cemetery only a few dozen metres to the east of the discovery. Construction then continued and a new pavilion now stands at the site, with markings to indicate that this is Lheidli territory.
The park sits on what was once a busy part of the Lheidli civilization that has resided in this area for thousands of years.
Citizen staff
Rookie city councillor Cori Ramsay has been working hard learning the ropes of her new job and can’t wait to get busy with tasks at hand this coming year.
“I feel so amazing, I can’t even tell you how excited I am – we go into these meetings and I feel like I could go for hours,” Ramsay laughed. “I just feel like I’m doing good for my community and I feel like I get a little bit of an endorphin rush from that. It’s just making a positive impact in my community is really important to me and I feel I’m living that – I’m doing that.”
Mayor Lyn Hall advised Ramsay and the other new city councilor Kyle Sampson to visit each city department and learn what each one does and take tours of facilities.
“He said to go learn all of the different areas of the city and all of the functions and we get to go on a tour of the courthouse and we get to go on a tour of the 18th Avenue yard and I’m just really excited to learn more and more so I can make good decisions on behalf of the people of Prince George, which is really important to me,” she said. Ramsay said she believes the best way to get to know a job is to jump right in. She took a giant leap to take on the tough duties of city council which includes sitting on the finance and audit committee.
“There’s a lot of knowledge on our current council and I’m really keen to learn from each and every one of them all that I can,” Ramsay said.
“A lot of them have said they’re going to be retiring in the next
couple terms and I was really hopeful to be on finance and audit and I am. It’s probably going to be a tough committee to be on – there are some proposed tax hikes that people are not going to be in favour of but you know I’m putting myself on that committee in hopes of having a good understanding of how this city operates, how the money works, so in those future terms when we lose that institutional knowledge, we’ll have someone who can step up to the plate and I’m hoping that maybe that will be me.” Ramsay said her first impression of council is that each member brings something different to the table.
“So, holistically, that will make us into a really powerful engine for the city, for making decisions and that’s something I’m really looking forward to – working with each of these individuals.” Ramsay said. “And I know it’s going to be a really good term, so I’m really excited.”
Citizen staff
A modular home in the 4400-block of Greenwood Road caught fire Friday at about 11 p.m.
Prince George Fire Rescue responded with 15 firefighters from three halls. When fire crews arrived they
found the home engulfed in flames.
Crews quickly put out the fire and remained on scene until fire investigators could determine the cause. No injuries were reported. Damage estimate is unknown at this time.
Gary McKENNA Tri-City News
Homeowners across British Columbia will find out what their property is worth when BC Assessment releases its annual assessments this week.
The information will be available at bcassessment.ca after Jan. 2, showing the assessed value for individual properties as well as the top-valued residential properties in the province.
However, with a softening real estate market, assessor Tina Ireland warned earlier this month that residents would likely see only moderate gains and even some price decreases after years of soaring home values.
“It’s a real mix in property value changes, but the market can best be summed up as showing signs of stability across most areas of the province,” she said. “Change in property assessments really depend on where you life.”
She noted that in Metro Vancouver, assessed values for detached
homes could see a dip – anywhere from five to 10 per cent over the last year – particularly in Vancouver, North Vancouver, Surrey, White Rock, Delta and Richmond. Areas outside of Metro Vancouver could see more stable assessed values or even some moderate increases.
The Fraser Valley, for example, could see between a five to 15 per cent increase in detached-home values, while parts of Vancouver Island may see gains of 20 per cent.
Stratas continue to see rising prices, according to BC Assessment.
For example, condominium owners in most areas of the province can expect to see a 10 to 20 per cent rise, with Vancouver, the North Shore and Burnaby on the lower end of the increase.
The property assessment values are based on market activity as of July 1, 2018. Visit bcassessment. ca from Jan. 2 to see the 2019 assessment.
ABOVE: Dale Bull belly-flops into Ness Lake on Tuesday at the Ness Lake Bible Camp Polar Bear Dip.
LEFT: Three people dressed in penguin costumes wade through the water of Ness Lake on Tuesday.
BELOW: One of the 96 participants in the Ness Lake Bible Camp Polar Bear Dip battles the cold water of the lake on Tuesday.
Hina ALAM Citizen news service
VANCOUVER — It’s a sip that can take you across continents from sun-drenched California to the vineyards of Romania.
The Vancouver International Wine Festival celebrates its 41st year starting Feb. 23 as it offers the chance to taste more than 700 wines spanning 16 countries.
For the first time this year, wines from Romania will be featured alongside those of Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and Croatia, said Harry Hertscheg, the festival’s executive director.
The festival focuses on a different region or country every year, and the featured region this time is California.
“It’s kind of like a dance. You can’t tell someone to dance with you. You have to invite them and they have to be interested,” said Hertscheg.
“Last year we were dancing with Portugal and Spain and we had a great time, and the timing just seemed right with California. It hadn’t been the theme since 2013 – for six years. A lot has happened since.”
The featured region has its own section in the tasting room and offers seminars, as well as food and wine events throughout the week.
British Columbia was celebrated last year when the festival shone a spotlight on Canada as it celebrated its 150th birthday.
Although both British Columbia and California share the west coast, their wines are markedly different, said Hertscheg.
While climate plays a major role in the colour and taste of wines, he said the soil is also a significant factor.
“The reason wine is so interesting and special is because it comes from a place that has a certain kind of soil, a certain kind of climate.”
In B.C., the cool nights of the Okanagan don’t allow the grapes to get as ripe and sweet as they do in California, so the style of wine is a little more firm and structured, said Hertscheg.
Hertscheg said the international festival, which runs to March 3, will attract about 25,000 people. More than 30,000 bottles will be sold and tasted.
John Skinner of Painted Rock Estate Winery in the Okanagan said the region’s cool climate gives the grapes bright acidity with crisp flavours that jump out at you.
“Because of warm days and cool nights we get very specific nuances to what we produce,” he said.
“We aim to the premium market. That’s where we compete.”
The industry is young in B.C. and is just getting onto the world stage, he said.
“It isn’t just ice wine that we produce,” Skinner said, adding that the province produces some of the highest quality wines in the world.
Hertscheg said the international festival, which runs to March 3, will attract about 25,000 people. More than 30,000 bottles will be sold and tasted.
Hertscheg is looking forward to trying wines from Romania, which includes some that feature Dracula in their marketing.
“I’m not very familiar with Romanian wines so I’m excited to go and try them out,” he said. “They seem to like rich reds and they do have Dracula themed wines. It says Dracula on the label.”
Dates: Feb. 23 to March 3
Venue: Festival is headquartered at the Vancouver Convention Centre West.
Prices: Event prices range from $40 to $450.
Tickets: Tickets to public events go on sale Jan. 9.
NEW WESTMINSTER (CP) — British Columbia’s first baby of the year came into the world at a minute past midnight.
Baby Dominik Soswa was born at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster to Janet Shimizu and Lukasz Soswa just as fireworks lit up the skies at 12:01 a.m. The eight pound and three ounce baby arrived via caesarean section.
Mom Janet Shimizu says the family is healthy and happy.
Shimizu says she thought Dominik would arrive on Dec. 31 but her labour stopped and doctors decided that it would be best for her to have a caesarean section.
This is the couple’s first baby.
“We’re feeling very tired but we’re feeling very, very good,” she said. The new mother said she wants her son to just be himself and happy.
“My partner wants him to be a surgeon,” she said, with a laugh, adding that Soswa is an orthopedic surgeon out of Langley. For now the family wants to rest and catch up on sleep.
VANCOUVER (CP) — West Vancouver police and the BC Coroners Service are investigating the death of a man who was found lodged in a clothing donation bin. Police say an off-duty physician walking near Ambleside Park found the unresponsive man stuck in the bin’s opening on Sunday. The man couldn’t be resuscitated, despite efforts by a BC Ambulance Advance Life Support team and West Vancouver Fire crew members. A police news release says the 34-year-old Vancouver resident was pronounced dead at the scene. While the cause of death hasn’t been confirmed, police say there’s no indication of foul play.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
Charles Dickens penned the famous line in 1859, but he also foreshadowed 2018, a year where we saw marvellous opportunity and achievements in stark contrast to uncertainty and discontent, including:
• Some of the most gruesome human tragedies in decades in Myanmar, Syria and Yemen.
• Warnings of catastrophic climate change by 2030 from the UN.
• Canada becoming the only country with free-trade agreements with all other G7 countries.
• Public squabbles between government leaders on issues critical to our future.
• Threats to Canada’s competitiveness with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in the U.S.
• The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report 2018, ranked Canada’s macroeconomic stability first out of 137 countries.
• America’s dramatic elimination of international diplomacy, collaboration and respect for its closest partners.
• The UN Human Development Index ranked Canada the ninth most livable country in the world.
In a more local context, growing challenges pressure B.C.’s success and competitive position:
• B.C. businesses will pay $5.1 billion more in taxes in 2019-20 than in 2012-13 and the growing tax burdens threaten business viability. The corporate income tax rate is up two percentage points since 2013, the carbon tax is increasing, the new employer health tax hits employers in January and graduated increases in Canada Pension Plan premiums begin in 2019. Regulatory approval processes are cumbersome, uncertain and slow.
• It takes 249 days to get a permit to build a warehouse in Canada compared with 80 days in the U.S.
• The WEF report ranks Canada 53rd of 137 countries for its “burden of government regulation” and 44th for “distortive effect of taxes on competition.”
• Dozens of legislative and regulatory reviews are underway in B.C., increasing uncertainty and complexity for employers. These pervasive impacts on employers are unsustainable. They threaten the foundation of our province: employers who provide well-paying jobs, expand our economy and build communities. The cumulative impact blunts the appetite for investment, stalling the engine that drives the provincial economy. Direct foreign investment in
Canada has declined steadily since 2013 while Canadian investment abroad has increased.
This data is a warning that we ignore at our peril.
As business growth and investment is threatened, so too is the affordability of B.C. for employees, creating hiring challenges that exacerbate business operations:
• 4.7 per cent of all B.C. jobs are currently unfilled. In construction, this is seven per cent, and in trucking, an astounding 13 per cent.
• Canada has one of the biggest increases in household debt relative to incomes among advanced economies.
In contrast, 2018 also brought meaningful accomplishments in B.C.:
• For five years, average real gross domestic product growth in the province led the country by a significant margin.
• Our technology ecosystem received an A grade relative to other jurisdictions.
• The $40 billion LNG Canada investment is the largest private-sector investment ever made in Canada.
• The provincial budget is on track for a $1.3 billion surplus.
• Our unemployment rate is near a record low.
• Strong gains in exports to Asian economies lowered our reliance on the U.S.
It was a year of interesting developments from a First Nations perspective, with issues catching the headlines including the struggles of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline project. First Nations have had mixed results in the courts. In the Trans Mountain case, the federal government must redo its consultation with First Nations because the Supreme Court of Canada quashed federal environmental approval of the project. On the other hand, BC Hydro and the B.C. government have prevailed against court challenges to the Site C hydroelectric dam project. Nationally, the federal government is attempting to entrench some progress prior to the next election through its approach to Indigenous rights recognition legislation and how it adopts principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Also, legislation has been announced that will give control of child welfare to Indigenous governments. Unfortunately, there is First Nations resistance to both initiatives, which may prevent the legislation from passing before the federal elections. Also noteworthy was the re-election of Perry Bellegarde as national chief of the Assembly
Guest Column
of First Nations. He is viewed as a moderate and is also keen to see some improvements on Indigenous matters entrenched in legislation before the next federal election.
On the provincial side, the BC NDP government seems to be hitting its stride. A recent meeting between cabinet ministers and First Nation chiefs produced some commitments to the sharing of gaming revenue and the co-development of legislation to implement the UN Indigenous rights declaration. This has built on child welfare legislative reforms and increased investments in Indigenous languages and housing.
While there is much skepticism about the pace of change on these issues, I can’t help but feel there is an air of momentum as we close this year, particularly in B.C. The LNG Canada project and pipeline reached a final investment decision with a high degree of support by First Nations along the pipeline. This project has been described as the biggest private capital investment in the history of Canada.
While there is a high degree of support from First Nations, there is also opposition from some
While there is much skepticism about the pace of change on these issues, I can’t help but feel there is an air of momentum as we close this year.
hereditary leaders, so it will be interesting to follow the progress of this project. The Squamish Nation also approved its impact benefit agreement for the Woodfibre LNG project.
I am encouraged by the number of businesses wanting to advance reconciliation, through internal education and external activities, and by following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s recommendations. One thing is certain – B.C. continues to lead the country in the advancement of Indigenous rights. Although there will be setbacks and it will take time to see some of these changes on the ground, I am optimistic that we will see more significant progress in B.C. for First Nation communities. It’s about time.
— Kim Baird is the owner of Kim Baird Strategic Consulting and is the former chief of Tsawwassen First Nation
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market.
• Site C work continues along with the building of new hospitals, schools and other infrastructure.
•The Digital Technology Supercluster has leveraged $153 million in federal investment to over $500 million in less than six months, foreshadowing job creation and GDP growth as B.C. leads the development of digital products and platforms. Our province prospered over the past decade on a foundation of strong partnerships. As global economies converge and technology transforms society, B.C. will continue to prosper if we:
• Rebuild and continue to develop foundations of trust and respect across and between employers, governments and citizens.
• Reduce and clarify regulatory burdens and re-inspire investment.
• Capitalize on the potential of B.C. leading the world in digital technology development and deployment.
Dickens saw both sides of the ledger. We have the opportunity to do the same and to build a prosperous, inspired province for our children, and all of their friends – the talent for our future. I am up for this and I hope you are too.
— Sue Paish is CEO of Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster
Of course, we are all making resolutions for the new year. Over my Christmas hiatus, I had time to read and reflect, particularly on the issue of “finding common ground” in our political matters.
Some might call it a Christmas miracle, while others will cynically pronounce my new tone as a strategic retreat but wherever the cause lies, I am determined that my column in 2019 will be used to help explain and hopefully bridge our political chasms rather than widen them.
I have already given a mea culpa, but I will reiterate that my cacophony and colour have certainly been “problematic” to borrow my opponents’ phrasing. And while I will never stoop to the level of amoral language – there are truly “wicked allegiances” observable in many quarters – I could follow an old friend’s advice to perhaps present a few more facts. The era of fake news is no excuse for me to indulge in spurious stories or make metaphysical mountains out of mole hills.
moral imperatives to life, private and public, spell personal responsibility before any privilege; that human beings are not blank slates; and finally, we are truly fortunate to live in the Dominion of Canada. May “God keep our land, glorious and free.”
But for anyone listening, near and far, over hill and dale, I encourage you to join me in a turn towards solutions over listing each others’ many faults.
Obviously I can’t control what my fellow pundits will do at this local paper, let alone the wider world. But for anyone listening, near and far, over hill and dale, I encourage you to join me in a turn towards solutions over listing each others’ many faults. Besides, we all know them.
To be clear, lest my fans despair and my opponents begin dancing in the streets, I have not had a Damascene conversion; my uncompromised lines are still drawn in the same places.
I affirm: the Nicene Creed; that our democracy exists thanks to the rule of law limiting state power and protecting citizens’ rights to private property – including firearms; that the golden rule of governance is subsidiarity; the
Where my tune has changed is the “how” side of things, perhaps thanks to my “why” evolving slightly when it comes to the secular world. I still believe that prudence is the ultimate virtue in politics and that the way to improvement is by a narrow gate but we have reasons to hope and there are hypotheses that may better match the challenges we face. If I am not open to such things, how can claim to be informed? Not all of life and politics is a zero-sum game. A final point must be made here: I am in no way being the bigger person. In fact, I am very late to the game of “reconciliation.” At the risk of editorializing unforgivably, I maintain it had to be that way. In short, the backlash seen around the world towards the alienating, centralizing systems of governance and social control are more correct than false and now that some of my opponents have admitted such, I in turn can come out of my reactive and defensive positions.
In the end, it is right and just that we do more good than ill to one another. That means something different to everyone, depending on your vocation.
For us in the chattering classes, perhaps it means helping keep the peace instead of adding to the noise.
Happy new year.
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Katie METTLER Citizen news service
Ayear ago, stand-up comic Louis C.K. confirmed that sexual misconduct accusations made against him, which included incidents in which he masturbated in front of female colleagues, were “true.”
Then, he said he was going to disappear for a while.
“I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want,” C.K. said in response to a New York Times investigation into the matter. “I will now step back and take a long time to listen.”
In a new, crude stand-up routine recorded at a Long Island comedy club in December, which leaked online over the weekend, C.K. explains what he did during that long listening window. He fled New York, which he now hates, and did some travelling in small U.S. towns, which he said made him uncomfortable. C.K. lost money, he said, a lot of money –$35 million in one day. Then he went to France “because I thought I should leave the nation,” he said. The set, which continued for 45 minutes without directly mentioning the actions that derailed his career, included a sexually explicit joke about nine-year-old girls wearing Old Navy boyfriend-style jeans. The routine mocked young people who identify as gender neutral, featured a five-minute bit about what the comic believes is an absurd political correctness surrounding the word “retarded” and criticized the student survivors of mass school shootings for testifying before Congress.
“What are you doing? You’re young. You should be crazy, unhinged. Not in a suit, saying ‘I’m here to tell...’ “ C.K. said in the audio clip. “You’re not interesting because you went to a high school where kids got shot. Why does that mean I have to listen to you? How does that make you interesting? You didn’t get shot. You pushed some fat kid in the way and then, now I gotta listen to you talking?”
The bit continued, referring to the February mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 students and staff.
“Everybody gets upset when there’s a shooting at a high school. I don’t really see why it’s any worse than anybody else dying. I don’t. Cuz a lot of people die, every day 7,500 people die in America, OK, so that day 17 kids got shot in a school. What about the other... 7,500 people? They didn’t die in their sleep. Some of them got electrocuted. By their parents. People get upset because they’re young. Because they died so young. That’s offensive to me.”
Those who survived the Parkland massacre, and parents of those who didn’t, quickly slammed C.K.’s routine. Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, criticized the comic in a tweet Monday morning.
“To anyone who knows Louis CK, please deliver this message for me,” Guttenberg wrote. “My son ran from the bullets. My wife and I deal with loss everyday. Why don’t you come to my house and try out your new pathetic jokes?”
Delaney Tarr, a co-founder of March for Our Lives who survived the Parkland shooting, wrote on Twitter that their group has “worked with plenty of comedians who have talked about us in a genuine, hilarious way.” But C.K.’s bit, she said, was different.
“This is just being a (jerk),” she said.
Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, a group that advocates for gun legislation, summarized it like this: “Imagine thinking the best way to resurrect your career after admitting to sexual misconduct is to mock trans people and Parkland gun violence survivors,” she tweeted.
“Hey Louie CK,” tweeted
Aalayah Eastmond, a Parkland survivor who testified before Congress that she hid beneath a dead classmate’s body during the shooting. “Since you like making fun of me and other Parkland survivors behind closed doors, I’m right here if you want to talk. Just try to keep it in your pants, ok?”
Cameron Kasky, who also co-founded March for Our Lives, said it was not his job “to police comedy just because I find it offensive.” He added, though, “Louis is an ass for the jokes he’s making, which sucks cause he used to be really funny and not just a professional jerk.” Kasky said he used to enjoy episodes of the FX TV drama Louie,
LOUIS C.K.
You didn’t get shot. You pushed some fat kid in the way and then, now I gotta listen to you talking?
— Louis C.K.
which was a fictionalized version of C.K.’s life as a single dad and successful stand-up comic in New York City.
“Seems now like he’s becoming more of a Milo-style provocateur as opposed to just a non-PC comedian,” Kasky wrote on Twitter, referring to far-right writer Milo Yiannopoulos, who helped launch Breitbart News into the mainstream.
Long before the New York Times investigation published in fall 2017, in which five women accused C.K. of sexual misconduct, the comic’s jokes were perceived as crude. He rejected so-called political correctness and embraced his reputation as the guy who would say aloud the uncouth thoughts others didn’t.
The leaked audio recording shows a comic who, despite the past year (“I bet none of you had the kind of year I had”), has no plans to change his brand of
funny. In one joke, he says he likes the way his Jewish doctor touches him. Then, the doctor says C.K. should stop eating ice cream, and the comic responds by using slurs to describe him.
He talked about his daughters and his issue with the way young people today conduct themselves. They should be doing Jell-O shots and having sex, he said. Instead he called them “boring.” He continued:
“‘You should address me...’ “They’re like royalty! They tell you what to call them. ‘You should address me as they/them, because I identify as gender neutral.’ Oh, OK.”
In the joke, C.K. said he would like to be called “there” because he identifies “as a location,” and the location is their mother’s genitals.
C.K. and his representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
James Dolce owns three Governor’s Comedy Clubs on Long Island. Dolce said C.K. performed six times at his clubs in two weeks this month. The owner said he believes the leaked audio recording comes from one of those performances.
“Everyone in the audiences, and all the sold-out shows, they were there to see Louis,” Dolce said Monday afternoon. “Louis’ a genius when it comes to comedy. It’s why he has so many followers. It was nothing but applause, like he always gets when he’s onstage.”
Dolce, who has known C.K. for years, said he had not listened to the leaked recording of the show. He has strict rules at his club about recording devices because often comics are trying out new material.
“Nobody wants their material being heard before it’s totally 100 per cent polished,” Dolce said. “That’s basically what he was doing.”
The performances at Dolce’s clubs weren’t C.K.’s first back onstage. In August, C.K. performed a 15-minute, surprise set at the Comedy Cellar in New York, an institution he frequented before his downfall.
Managing editor Neil Godbout puts the news in perspective every day, only in The Citizen
Jason PETERS Citizen Sports Editor jpeters@pgcitizen.ca
A dramatic win in their last round-robin game at the Mac’s AAA Midget Hockey Tournament left the Cariboo Cougars hoping they had done enough to qualify for the quarterfinal playoffs.
As it turned out, the tiebreaker format kept them from advancing.
“The way we finished the tournament, I’m pretty proud of the guys obviously,” said Cougars head coach Tyler Brough. “We knew we had to do our job and win that last game and let the cards kind of fall, and (the players) showed up and played a solid game against a good hockey team. We were down early and came back and tied it up and then scored late for the win so it was pretty exciting.”
In their final round-robin outing, against the Swift Current Legionnaires on Sunday in Calgary, the Cougars got the decisive goal from forward John Herrington with 1:01 left on the clock and pulled out a 3-2 victory.
“It was a shot from the half wall and Herrington was fighting against some guys to get to the net and batted it out of midair on his backhand into a wide open net,” Brough said of the marker. “It was a pretty exciting time and a bit of an emotional roller coaster for the guys once we figured out that we weren’t in (the playoffs).”
The win against the Legionnaires allowed the Cougars to finish round robin with a 2-1-1 record, good for five points and second place in their pool, behind the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Lethbridge and the four other pool winners – the Saskatoon Blazers, Red Deer Optimist Chiefs, St. Albert Nektar Data Systems Raiders and Airdrie CFR Bisons – automatically claimed playoff spots and the remaining three positions went to the New York Junior Islanders, CAC Gregg Distributors and the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs.
The Cougars and Chiefs finished with the same records, and the Cats had a better goals-for versus goals-against mark (even versus minus 3), but the Chiefs were awarded the playoff berth because they beat their pool winner, St. Albert, during round-robin play.
The Cougars started the Mac’s with a 2-2 tie against the Calgary Northwest Flames, downed the Brampton 45’s by a 4-3 count and then lost 4-2 to the Hurricanes, who went on to skate in Tuesday’s final against the Raiders and lost 4-3.
In the Cougars’ game against the Hurricanes, played on Saturday, the Cats found themselves in a 4-0 hole half way through the second period but got back into things with goals from Curtis Hammond and Grady Thomas.
“Lethbridge kind of took it to us in the first 30 and then we took over the last 30,” Brough said. “We kind of proved to ourselves we can play with the best teams around, we’ve just got to make sure we’re prepared and ready to go for 60 minutes.”
When individual awards were handed out, Cougars defenceman Jacob Gendron was recognized for having the best plus/minus rating in the tournament, a mark of plus 5, according to Brough.
“That’s great for him,” Brough said of Gendron, who had three assists in the four games. “He’s a kid that is a leader on our back end. We expect a lot out of him – he’s a Vancouver Giant signed guy, hoping that he’s there next year playing full-time for them, and one of the things he struggles with is plus/minus with us so it was good to see him have a great week in Calgary. That award should be something special for him because it’s something he’s worked hard on.”
With the Mac’s behind them, the Cougars now turn their attention back to the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League. They enter the 2019 portion of the regular season in second place with a 16-5-3-0 record and will host the third-place Chiefs (155-2-2) Jan. 19-20. Moving forward, Brough said he hopes the Mac’s experience is beneficial to his players.
“If we want to beat the (first-place Fraser Valley) T-birds and the Chiefs and all these great teams from our league and move on to Pacific playdowns and hopefully the Telus Cup (national championship) we know who we’re going to see because they were all there,” he said.
“I think we’ve seen that we can play with the best and that we’re right there.”
The 2019 Telus Cup is April 22-28 in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Full Mac’s results and statistics can be found online at macstournament.ab.ca
Citizen news service/Citizen staff
The Edmonton Oilers acquired three new defencemen on Sunday while swapping out two blueliners and a forward in a pair of trades.
Edmonton first picked up Alexander Petrovic from the Florida Panthers, then added Brandon Manning and Robin Norell from the Chicago Blackhawks hours later.
Florida received blueliner Chris Wideman and a conditional third-round pick in the 2019 NHL draft while the Blackhawks took forward Drake Caggiula and defenceman Jason Garrison in their trade.
Petrovic, 26, had one assist in 26 games with Florida this season. He has appeared in 255 NHL games over his five-year career, posting 49 points (five goals, 44 assists).
The Edmonton native was originally selected by Florida in the second round, 36th overall, at the 2010 NHL draft.
Manning, from Prince George, had a goal and two assists in 27 games this
Obviously, with our history and when a guy of that calibre reaches out to you, it’s pretty special.
— Brandon Manning
season prior to the trade. The 28-yearold began his NHL career in Philadelphia and has played in 235 total games with 12 goals and 34 assists. He and Petrovic were in the Edmonton lineup on Monday when the Oilers hosted the Winnipeg Jets and lost 4-3.
Manning is now a teammate of Connor McDavid, the superstar forward he crashed with into the end boards during a game in Edmonton in McDavid’s rookie season. McDavid suffered a broken collarbone on the play and missed the next 37 games due to the injury. The incident eventually led to a war of words between McDavid and Manning, but Manning
said both players have put it behind them.
“Connor actually reached out (to me),” Manning said on the Oilers website after being acquired. “He said he’s happy to have me and thinks I can help the team. Obviously, with our history and when a guy of that calibre reaches out to you, it’s pretty special.”
Norell plays in the Swedish Hockey League, where the 23-year-old has three assists in 27 games. He was drafted by Chicago in the fourth round in 2013. Wideman is leaving Edmonton after a brief stint. The 28-year-old had two assists through five games since he was dealt to the Oilers by the Ottawa Senators last month.
Wideman has 16 goals and 27 assists in 175 career NHL games, mostly with Ottawa. He was drafted by the Senators in the fourth round in 2009.
Caggiula, 24, had seven goals and four assists in 29 games with the Oilers this season. He set career highs in points (20), goals (13) and games played (67) last year with Edmonton.
Gemma KARSTENS-SMITH Citizen news service
VANCOUVER — Morgan Frost believes Canada’s best game is yet to come at this year’s world junior hockey championship.
The Canadians lost their final round-robin match-up 2-1 in a tight battle with the Russians on New Year’s Eve, but the defending champions have a chance to redeem themselves when they take on Finland today.
“It’s the quarterfinals so it’s kind of win or go home,” Frost said. “I think you can expect our best game.” The Finns beat Canada 5-2 in pre-tournament action and the Ca-
nadians want revenge, Frost said.
“They’re obviously a skilled team,” said the Philadelphia Flyers prospect. “If you give them too many chances on the power play, they’re going to score. So I think we need to stay disciplined and not give up too many scor-
ing chances. They’re definitely a dangerous team.” Finland didn’t make it past the quarterfinals in last year’s tournament, losing in a shootout to the Czech Republic. This time around, the Finnish roster boasts three current NHL players, including Urho Vaakanainen of the Boston Bruins, Nashville Predators forward Eeli Tolvanen and Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Henri Jokiharju. The team also includes Kaapo Kakko, who’s expected to be a high pick in this year’s NHL draft. Still, the squad struggled in the round robin this year, winning two of four games. Canada won three in a row before the loss to Russia.
The Canadians are confident they have what it takes to fend off the skilled Finns, especially after seeing them in an exhibition game, Frost said.
“It’s good that we played them and we kind of know what to expect now,” he said. “We have a game plan going in and we just have to execute it.”
Not sticking to the plan was Canada’s downfall against Russia on Monday, said head coach Tim Hunter.
“We had guys shooting the puck at the net and we had nobody at the net, so there’s a process to scoring goals and we have to stick to that process and we got away from that (Monday) night,” he said. The team will need to play a
complete game to move on to the medal round, Hunter added.
“It’s consistency in our effort, trying to play our game, every shift, every period, and that’s our goal.”
Maxime Comtois is the only returning player from last year’s gold medal-winning team. He knows what it’s like to have to bounce back from a loss in the tournament. Canada lost a preliminary-round game to the U.S. in a shootout last year.
“We knew what we didn’t apply in that game and it’s the same thing this year, we know what we did wrong and we hit the reset button and just focus on ourselves,” said Canada’s captain.
— see ‘IT’S ANOTHER, page 10
Tim BOOTH Citizen news service
RENTON, Wash. — Pete Carroll and Brian Schottenheimer sat together and decided with their team winless after two games there needed to be a change.
What the Seattle Seahawks were trying to do on offence wasn’t working.
“He and I sat down and kind of had a little heart-to-heart,” said Schottenheimer, Seattle’s firstyear offensive coordinator.
“There were things that he and I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page about. It wasn’t just the running game, it was he and I continuing to build our relationship and it was an awesome meeting. It probably lasted about an hour and we talked about a ton of different stuff. I know I came out of that meeting feeling really good just about the direction where we wanted to go.”
The direction has been clear for more than three months as the Seahawks went from a team searching for answers to a team back in the post-season after a one-year absence from the playoffs. And it was the decisions made before playing Dallas in Week 3 where the switch was made and Seattle started on its path that has the Seahawks headed to face the Cowboys on Saturday night in an NFC wild-card game.
The conversation between Carroll and Schottenheimer made clear Seattle was going back to the fundamentals of how it wanted to be offensively. They were going to make running the ball the priority and let Russell Wilson be a playmaker around the running success.
The result: Seattle ended the season as the best run team in the NFL, and with Wilson having one of the best seasons of his career making big plays in the passing game.
“I don’t think you’d always sit there and say we’re going to make this philosophy and go do this, and then you think you’re going to be the best in the league at it,” Schottenheimer said.
Throughout last off-season, Seattle preached it was returning to the basic offensive fundamentals that led them to consecutive NFC titles. They were going to be bul-
lies running the football behind the trio of Chris Carson, Mike Davis and Rashaad Penny.
But for the first two weeks of the season, Schottenheimer and Carroll got too far ahead of themselves. They tried to see how much the Seahawks could rely on Wilson, rather than relying on the run game. The result was a pair of ugly losses to Denver and Chicago, and Wilson running for his life getting sacked 12 times in those first two games.
When Dallas arrived in Week 3, so did Seattle’s change in approach. That was the week Carson became the workhorse in the run game. It was the week that the additions of D.J. Fluker and J.R. Sweezy at the guard positions started to become noticeable, and Seattle’s running success meant Wilson was no longer under siege by the opposing pass rush.
Seattle rushed for only 113 yards that day in the 24-13 win
– 102 by Carson – but it laid the foundation for what the Seahawks became.
“They were talking about it the whole time of running the ball more and being a run team,” Carson said. “They finally started getting it going against the Cowboys and it’s taken off ever since.”
Starting with Week 3, Seattle has rushed for 2,422 yards, the fourth-most by any team since 2010 during that 14-game span. The 2014 Seahawks had 2,447 yards during the same stretch of games, one spot ahead of this year’s team.
While it was the Cowboys when Seattle committed to its offensive identity, when it fully took hold depends on whom you ask. For Schottenheimer it wasn’t until Week 12 at Carolina when he became convinced Seattle had the ability to win in multiple ways. The victory over the Panthers came on a day Seattle ran for only
75 yards, but Wilson threw for 339. It’s the only time in the final 14 games Seattle was held under 100 yards rushing as a team.
For offensive tackle Duane Brown, it was Seattle’s first game against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 5. Seattle lost 33-31, but ran for 190 yards and averaged 5.9 yards per carry.
“It just became our norm and we had some pretty good fronts that we went against,” Brown said. Carroll agreed with his left tackle that it was a few games after facing the Cowboys before the commitment to Seattle’s offensive style became the norm.
“It was a step in right direction and the commitment came through but we were just getting started,” Carroll said. “I don’t think that was the pivotal week, it took us two or three weeks after that before we started to find the stride that we wanted and started to build on that.”
Citizen news service
TORONTO — Kawhi Leonard shimmied around Utah defenders like their feet were rooted to the floor, and filled up the basket seemingly at will in a masterful third-quarter performance Tuesday.
The Raptors superstar scored 19 of his career-high 45 points in the third to lift Toronto 122-116 over the Jazz on New Year’s Day, sending the Raptors into 2019, and to San Antonio for a big upcoming game Thursday, with a victory.
“It’s good we all got to witness that live and in person. He was phenomenal,” coach Nick Nurse said. “I’ve mentioned it a few times
early in the year that it looks like he moves to some spaces fairly easy, and he’d have some 9-for-22 at the end of the night and I’d be thinking, ‘When’s he going to go 16-for-22?”’
He shot exactly that on the night, to the delight of fans who serenaded Leonard with chants of “M-V-P!” He also connected on 13 of his 17 free throw attempts.
“Kind of been waiting for one of these nights where he makes them all,” Nurse said. “He was great and he’s a special, special player, as we know.”
Leonard has scored 20-plus points in 14 consecutive games, the longest streak of his NBA career. He’ll go for No. 15 on Thursday when the Raptors are in San Antonio to take
on DeMar DeRozan and Leonard’s former team, the Spurs.
Moments after his career night, Leonard disappeared to the weight room to lift, finally returning to the locker-room some 45 minutes after the game’s final buzzer. His teammates had all departed.
Did he feel like he was in the proverbial zone Tuesday?
“Definitely. You have to have a certain rhythm about yourself,” Leonard said. “Games like this it is easy to make shots. I always enjoy the challenge when you miss your first couple and seeing whether you’re going to stay, or are you going to be mentally focused or confident in your shot.”
‘It’s
— from page 9
“We have a chance to battle for a medal, stay positive and we have big games coming, stay focused.”
Staying focused can be a challenge for young athletes competing on a big stage.
Emotions are high and the arena is loud, said Michael DiPietro, Canada’s starting goaltender.
“Definitely when you step out on the ice and you hear all the fans cheering your heart starts beating a little bit faster than usual,” said the Vancouver Canucks prospect. DiPietro’s been using breathing techniques to calm himself and lower his heart rate before games and while he’s on the ice.
“It’s something that can maybe turn your focus back to the play and back to the game,” he said. Slowing down and recognizing that the quarterfinal match-up is just another hockey game will be key for the entire Canadian team, DiPietro said.
“Because the rink’s the same size,” he said. “We’ve just got to bring our focus back to that. It’s another game to play. We play hockey because it’s fun and that’s got to be our focus.”
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 17 shots for his league-leading sixth shutout and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 on Tuesday. Brandon Pirri continued his amazing scoring run for the Golden Knights in the third period, when he jumped on a loose puck at the right faceoff dot and sniped his sixth goal and eighth point in seven games this season. Pirri has nine goals in nine games since joining Vegas last season. Fleury, who improved to 7-0-3 in his last 10 appearances dating to Dec. 9, got his 23rd win in his 37th start – both league-bests. Alex Tuch added an emptynetter in the final minute for the final margin. The Golden Knights, who are 8-1-3 in their last 12 games, beat the Kings for the second time in four days after winning in Los Angeles on Saturday. Boosted by a four-game win streak after a three-day Christmas break, the Golden Knights have 52 points to tie Calgary atop the Pacific Division, and both are even with Winnipeg in the West. However, the Flames have played three fewer games than Vegas, and Jets have four games in hand. During the four-game streak, Fleury and Malcolm Subban have stopped 106 of 109 shots (97.2 save percentage) while the team has allowed just two power-play goals in 14 opportunities (85.7 per cent). Los Angeles goalie Jack Campbell, who was reactivated on Monday, had a career-high 46 saves, including several spectacular stops in the second period when the Golden Knights had 18 shots.
22,
age of 80. Predeceased by his wife Elsie and brothers Joe and Peter. He will be forever missed by his girls Kim (Neil) Chadwick, Leslie (Cliff) Wilson, Chris (Scott) Foster, his 6 grandchildren, Ryan, Kayla, Amy, Cassandra, Sydney, Brendan and 9 great grandchildren. John loved his family and cherished their visits. Also survived by his sister Helen Dizy and brother Frank (Edith) Loszchuk. John always looked forward to the visits from his close friends and neighbors, and a good game of crib. No service by request. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in John’s name to the BC Cancer Foundation.
WITTSTRUCK,Edward December23,2018
EdwardWittstruck,67,passedawaypeacefully surroundedbylovedonesonDecember23rd2018. BornonOctober4,1951,inEdmonton,AB,toOlga andWayneWittstruck.Survivedbyhislovingwife, Rita,of20yearsandsons,Colin,Jason(Dena),Jay (Tori),Steven,Shawn(Lisa),grandchildren,and greatgrandchildren.
Edspentagreatamountoftimeintheoutdoors,he wasanavidhunterandfisherman.Edwasalways filledwithjokesandhelovedtomakeyousmile.No morerestrictions,Edisnowfreetodowhatheloves. Aprivatecelebrationoflifewillbeannouncedata laterdate.
Flo Comtois October 21, 1931December 24, 2018
Flo passed away peacefully at home, while surrounded by her loved ones, after a short but courageous battle with cancer. Flo will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by her 4 children: Marnie (Don) Rahn, Sue Lorrie, Debbie (Tim) Taylor, & Ray (Debbie) Comtois. Her 6 grandchildren: Tanya (Bob) Kallis, Shawna Lorrie (Dave Oliver), Tom Lorrie, Michael (Julie) Gagnon, Patricia Wheeler (Tate Wright), & Holly (James) Jacklin. Her 12 great grandchildren: Jaida, Julian, Kaitlyn & Kaeden Kallis, Morgan Wade, Julia, Mikaela & Mackenzie Gagnon, Taylor & Tyler Wheeler, and Bryanna & Dylan Jacklin. Flo was predeceased by her loving husband Leo Comtois & her parents Blanche & Frank Parker. Flo is survived by her sister Gloria Ferguson, and her brothers Frank, Ron, Larry & Don Parker, and many nieces and nephews. Flo will be fondly remembered by many long-time friends. We will all miss Flo’s easy laugh, friendly smile and bear hugs - she will be remembered with love. Flo moved to Prince George in 1968, from Ontario and took a job as Manager at Sweet 16 in Spruceland Shopping Centre before moving to the downtown location on 3rd Avenue. Flo later worked with Leo in their own businesses - Spruceland Realty and Favor Homes. The family wishes to extend thanks to Dr Inban Reddy, and to the wonderful home nursing staff. In lieu of flowers, donations would be greatly appreciated to St Vincent de Paul Society. A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.
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